Bloom Lake Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Bloom Lake Trailhead
- End point: Bloom Lake
- Trail log:
- Hike Type: Lollipop loop
- Distance: 3.4 miles
- Elevation gain: 675 feet
- High Point: 1,690 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
Contents |
Hike Description
Little Bloom Lake nestles above the Quartz Creek drainage in the Coast Range, a short hike up and an excellent diversion from the heavy beach traffic on Highway 26. The trail mostly follows old logging roads in the Clatsop State Forest, with a rougher foot trail fashioning a loop around the lake itself. The forest here is secondary with a few old trees, both the coastal lowland species like Sitka spruce and western hemlock as well as some higher elevation conifers such as noble and silver fir. This is an excellent leg-stretcher on your way to or from the north coast.
Cross the South Fork Quartz Creek on a footbridge and head up under a canopy of alders. A sign tells you that Bloom Lake is 1.25 miles up the trail. Switchback up through salmonberry, elderberry, Douglas-fir, alder, hemlock, vine maple, sword fern and devil’s club and then descend to an alder/ salmonberry thicket. The trail rises again, passing large stumps with springboard slots. Silver firs also appear in the woods. You're on an old logging spur that joins a more recent road bed, where you turn left and head up. A side trail to the right leads through a salmonberry thicket to a duckweed-covered pond with a beaver lodge. You may startle the resident mallards if you venture here. On the main trail, keep heading up. The road levels and is lined by hemlock saplings. At a trail post, head right into the woods.
Meander through lush, mossy forest under hemlock, Douglas-fir, alder, vine maple, silver fir and some noble firs. Notice numerous large stumps: the area was logged over 100 years ago. The trail winds down. The largest trees here are noble fir. Drop into an alder/salmonberry grove with views through the alders to Bloom Lake. Continue past a trail sign to the outlet creek of the lake. Head up next to the creek on somewhat soggy ground to a fallen giant, which serves as a bridge where the creek flows out of the lake (NOTE: If it is too marshy here, you may want to turn around and continue up to the lake via the trail on the road bed). Then follow the path along the north shore of the lake. Notice more Sitka spruce here. Come to a campsite with two large tees, one a noble fir and one a Sitka spruce. From the campsite, walk out to a road.
Go left on the gravel road (the August Fire Road) and walk past a pond on the right redolent of skunk-cabbage. Past a white post at a culvert, a trail leads left to the lakeshore. Red alder line the lake and sedges form clusters. Go back to the road, go left and walk uphill. Where the road dips, the Bloom Lake Trail resumes off to the right. You'll have to negotiate a double-bermed, anti-ATV trench here. Salmonberry lines the old road bed. There’s a skunk-cabbage pond formed by beaver activity in the woods to the right. Rise gradually and cross a creek, and then begin to descend in Sitka spruce, Douglas-fir, silver fir, hemlock woods. Sword fern forms the carpet. The road bed rises again, then levels and passes the junction for the loop.
Maps
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- none
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Bloom Lake Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Bloom Lake Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Hiking from Portland to the Coast by James D. Thayer
- Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain
- Best Hikes Near Portland by Fred Barstad
- 50 Hikes in the Tillamook State Forest by the Tillamook State Forest Committee, Columbia Group Sierra Club
More Links
- Clatsop State Forest Recreation Guide (Oregon Department of Forestry)
- Bloom Lake Hike (Forest Hiker)
- Bloom Lake Trail (Portland Monthly)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)